From the Paper
"This paper will be concerned with African influences on Afro-American jazz and dance. The roots of Afro-American jazz can be traced back to the early 17th century, when African slaves were first brought to America from their homeland. These slaves came from various parts of Africa, and they brought a great variety of indigenous music and dance with them. In Africa, music and dance had played a vital role in both religious worship and everyday life. The tribal peoples of Africa had developed many types of songs for special occasions as well as specific dances which were intended to accompany the songs. The closely woven interrelationship between music and dance was thus strongly fixed in the minds of the early African slaves. As noted by one music historian, "in Africa . . . dance and song are intimately associated aspects of a single art" "

Abstract
This paper is an overview of Afro-American history, beginning with slavery in the 1700s. The author looks at how slavery affected the nuclear family, both economically and psychologically, and how this pattern continues to be prevalent in today's Afro-American families. Some of the issues discussed include, the owner-slave relationship, marriages between slaves and how slavery affected children and their identity. The paper also looks at the post-Emancipation period and the hardships that the freed slaves continued to encounter including poverty, unemployment and racial discrimination. According to the author, migration from the South to the North was one of the most significant changes that occurred as a result of Emancipation. The Afro-American families' strong bond, which may not be categorized as a
'traditional' but 'extended' family can be traced back to the period of slavery and in this author's opinion, shows the strengths of the community as a whole.

From the Paper
"Roberson reported that some of the migrating families were quite large, with six or seven children. It could be very difficult to find housing to old a family of that size, even with extensive family and community support. So often, these parents would have to make hard decisions to break the family apart, at least temporarily. Some of the children would be taken in by aunts and uncles, but given that the extended family was so strong, connected and well bonded together, this wasn't as wrenching as it might have been. The extended family continued to watch out for and support the new arrivals until they had work and a place to stay. (Roberson, accessed 2002)"

Tags:slavery, emancipation, bonds, owners, marriage, matriarchial, community, harsh, life, nuclear, farmers, discrimination, racial, migration, rural, urban, stable

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts the African American entertainment styles of minstrelsy and gangsta rap. The essay contains a lengthy discussion of the differences and similarities in these styles of music. Finally, it presents a discussion that supports the author's thesis that gangsta rap is the new minstrelsy.

From the Paper
"The development of African American music closely parallels the history of African Americans. African American history is rich and begins with the first slave capture in the 16th century. Decades of slavery followed, until the signing of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Following the proclamation, African Americans were slowly integrated into American society as free people."
In the 21st century, exemplary African Americans like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and Jesse Jackson slowly moved the African American population to greater equality with white Americans. The 21st century saw the end of segregation in schools and public places, the rise of black power, and the continued development of a rich and unique African American culture. "

Tags:music, rap, gangster, African, American, culture, segregation, racist

Abstract
This paper focuses on the issue of African-American women and feminism, from the 1960s to the present, while focusing on the views and opinions of various authors such as Patricia Hill Collins. Collins, a powerful voice in matters of black feminist epistemology, contends that because black women have access to both the Afro-centric and feminist standpoints, then, for a full analysis, both traditions should be represented through an "alternative epistemology." Collins also states that the key dimension of an Afro-centric feminist epistemology is the black woman's centrality in families and community organizations.
The writer of this paper discusses the issues that pertained to many African-American women in the 1960s and 1970s, who felt that the objectives and practices of feminism pertained mainly to white women. In the early 1970s, black feminists challenged this situation, questioning the assumption that white feminists spoke for all women and demanded -and eventually were given- women's studies programs on the experiences, culture and literature of black women. At that time, the activist black women who made the demands were denounced for espousing black nationalism, nonetheless, appropriate courses on "women of color" were eventually added to the women's studies' curriculum, which are detailed in this paper. This paper examines the progress and empowerment of African-American women over the years who are now able to lead in ways they had never thought possible, prior to 1960.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Main Body of the Paper: Literature Review
Epistemology
Conclusion
References
References Not Included in the Body of the Paper

From the Paper
"In her book, Collins suggests that the Black feminist thought processes speaks to "the importance that knowledge plays in empowering oppressed people." Moreover, Black feminist thought offers a "fundamental paradigmatic shift in how we think about oppression," though the process of reconceptualizing "the social relations of domination and resistance." Black feminist thought also empowers "subordinate groups" by infusing them with "new knowledge" that helps them define the reality of their own existence. What is impressive about Collins - besides the fact that clearly she's brilliant, alert to what real Black women are doing and feeling - is that she is fair-minded when it comes to her scholarship, and generally eschews long and emotional harangues about the white culture, and about white feminist epistemology that has in the past stood in the way of African-American feminists reaching out to the world with their vision."

Tags:women, racism, rights, feminism, education, spirituality, literature, patricia, hill, collins

Abstract
This six-page paper looks at the aspects of the African American and how the use of the Church within his community acts as a ritualized and cultural event within the African American family unit. Also discussing the ideals and values of attendance at church with a discussion and look at the effects of slavery had on the present religion. The methods adopted to control salves and their resistance is also considered.

Abstract
This paper is written about C. H. Gissendanner. He, primarily, opines that the gender separatism and the distinction between competitive sport and the ideal of femininity as espoused by the Women's Division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation in 1923 did not hold ground with the African-American communities.

Abstract
This paper delves into the indigenous, American creation of jazz music. It looks at the relationship between the origins of jazz and the history of African-Americans, the main characteristics of jazz music, and the instruments originally used for playing jazz. The beginning of jazz music in New Orleans is discussed, as well as some of the influences on the music and the different types of jazz that evolved over time. Famous jazz musicians and singers are also mentioned.

From the Paper
"A significant relationship exists between the origins of jazz and the history of African-Americans. To entertain themselves and get through the grueling days, plantation slaves would perform music that would remind them of their African homeland. Their songs, sounds and compositions would be on the wide variety of singing, rhythms and melodies that ranged throughout the continent."

Tags:ragtime, gospel, blues, billie, holiday, bebop, armstrong, dixieland, scott, joplin

Abstract
This paper provides an in depth look at the history of jazz, the early development of the music style, through African American musicians trying to create music that was uplifting; the direct opposite of the blues. The author discusses rhythm and instrumentation, numerous jazz artists and popular tunes.

From the Paper
"Jazz is associated with the African American people and this is an influence unequaled in the field of music. The true spirit of jazz arises from a revolt from convention, custom, authority, and boredom, even sorrow, from everything that would confine the soul of man. The blacks that invented it called their songs the blues, and they weren't capable of satire or deception. Jazz was their explosive attempt to cast off the blues and be happy, carefree happy, even in the midst of sordidness and sorrow. Jazz is a release of all the suppressed emotions at once. Jazz is a part of the direct process of African American music. In rhythm it goes directly back through ragtime, through the minstrel period, through the spirituals and dances to its African origin."

Tags:armstrong, new, orleans, basie, jelly, roll, chicago, african, duke, ellington, goodman, harlem

Abstract
The paper describes the racial tensions and riots that led to the African Diaspora, when black performers, mostly jazz musicians, left the United States and went to Europe. The paper discusses how these African-American performers found the freedom in Europe to compose and perform their jazz music. The paper focuses on Josephine Baker, a black woman who was able to find acceptance, fame and fortune in Paris and throughout the world.

From the Paper
"In the summer and fall of 1919, race riots erupted in Northern and Southern cities across America. Called the Red Summer of 1919, three violent episodes happened in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Elaine, Arkansas. The resulting tension throughout the United States made it impossible for African-Americans and Whites to live together in peace. Musicians in bands suddenly found themselves estranged from their close friends, members of bands argued and refused to talk to each other. Bands split up and African-American groups were barred from performing in venues throughout the United States. This led to the African Diaspora, when black performers, mostly jazz musicians, left the United States and went to Europe, where segregation and prejudice were not prevalent, and surprisingly, found the freedom and success they had lacked in the United States, to compose and perform their jazz music."

Tags:racism, Josephine, Baker, blacks, music, performers

Abstract
This paper analyzes the theme of American jazz in Jack Kerouac's emblematic novel of beat culture, "On the Road." First, the paper describes jazz, its history and its connection to American culture. Then, the paper then notes how jazz serves as a rhythmic foundation for Keruoac's novel. This is cited in reference to the use of language and its rhythm in the novel. Additionally, the jazz theme can also be applied to race and gender. The paper concludes by stating that the comparisons to jazz are most likely linked to Kerouac's own love of this musical form.

From the Paper
"This jazz theme in On The Road can also be applied to race and gender, for as Richardson points out, Kerouac utilizes the idea of "whiteness" as contrasted with "blackness," with the first being the so-called WASP or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, a person who usually shuns
anything to do with black culture, especially jazz music, and sees jazz musicians as peasants or those who wander from place to place, much like gypsies, without putting down social roots. As to "blackness,' this refers to African-Americans like Leadbelly, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk who stand in stark contrast to "White America" and find pleasure and satisfaction in playing jazz music. For Kerouac and Sal, this "whiteness" is the antithesis of jazz and is symbolized by "a suit of clothes too good to be comfortable" on the body of a jazz-loving, "on the beat" rebel more suited to non-conformity ("Peasant Dreams," Internet).
"Richardson also makes reference to the sound of "squiggling saxophones" which causes the listener, in this case Kerouac and his fellow "beat" travelers, to break into some kind of a Dionysian dance, fueled by wine, marijuana, and sexual debauchery. Also, Richardson mentions "the tenor-man's ecstasy," perhaps symbolically cast as Charlie Parker blowing his saxophone as if in some type of ecstatic musical bliss on the stage."

Tags:beat culture, Sal Paradise, American jazz, Allen Ginsberg